Fire Bloom .

[Larry Cook]

I think we need to resign Pham in the offseason.

[notin]

I think we need to resign Pham in the offseason.

 

 

He has an option…

[Bellhorn04]

He has an option…

 

It's a mutual option of some sort.

[Maxbialystock]

I think we need to resign Pham in the offseason.

 

I've been reading a terrific book, Rebel Without A Clause, and must point out that the correct word is "re-sign."

[Elktonnick]

Yes. That’s why I called him a “former Sox reliever” and “winning pitcher…”

 

He also was not an NFL punter or a breed of cactus or a tropical disease or a well, lots of things I didn’t mention…

I believe our conversation was about outfielders. But if you want to talk about tropical diseases ,I hear dengue fever is bad this year in the Guyanese bush country.

[harmony]

I've been reading a terrific book, Rebel Without A Clause, and must point out that the correct word is "re-sign."

Thank you for the book recommendation.

[Hugh2]

I would like to think we can do a lot better than Pham

[notin]

I would like to think we can do a lot better than Pham

 

I wouldn’t mind him as depth…

[Hugh2]

I wouldn’t mind him as depth…

 

I wouldn't hate him as a platoon out there if they're making ADDITIONAL outfield upgrades.

[Old Red]

I wouldn't hate him as a platoon out there if they're making ADDITIONAL outfield upgrades.

 

He’ll be 35 to start next season, so I think a backup would be a better option.

[moonslav59]

I wouldn't hate him as a platoon out there if they're making ADDITIONAL outfield upgrades.

 

So, this might be okay?

 

LF: Pham/Duran platoon

 

CF: Nimmo

 

RF: Verdugo

 

4th/5th OF'er: Refsnyder

 

Since none are suited to DH, do we really want to carry 5 OF'ers out of our 13 positional players?

 

2 catchers

2 1B/DH Hosmer & Casas or Dalbec

2B

SS

3B

 

That leaves just 1 utility IF slot and our back-up 1Bman at DH.

 

I'm still thinking one of our LF is their best position OF'ers should be traded, and it should not be a RH'd one like Pham or Refsnyder. I guess we can stash Duran or Ref at AA to prolong the choice, but why look for better options?

[Old Red]

Did the weekend play against the Yankees , which was a good representation of good play show what could have been, and should have been now with a good defensive 1B, which I believe has solidified the infield D, a good veteran OF has stabilized the OF somewhat although getting Kike back in CF should make it even better. Also having a stable backend of the BP has made a big difference with even Barnes making a contribution this WE. Whitlock was huge in both Wins, which wouldn’t have happened early in the season. Is it frustrating that this didn’t happen earlier in the season? Edited August 15, 2022 by Old Red

[dgalehouse]

We all know that small sample sizes should be taken with a grain of salt. And yet , we all continue to be either impressed or dismayed by them , as the case may be.

[Bellhorn04]

We all know that small sample sizes should be taken with a grain of salt. And yet , we all continue to be either impressed or dismayed by them , as the case may be.

 

Good small samples are still better than bad small samples.

[Old Red]

Good small samples are still better than bad small samples.

 

It just looks, and feels different to me small sample size, or not. The D looks better, and the pitching overall looks better. Now if only the offense could get cranking. Hopefully Raffy is out of his funk, and Kike back tomorrow will improve the D even more.

[Bellhorn04]

Did the weekend play against the Yankees , which was a good representation of good play show what could have been, and should have been now with a good defensive 1B, which I believe has solidified the infield D, a good veteran OF has stabilized the OF somewhat although getting Kike back in CF should make it even better. Also having a stable backend of the BP has made a big difference with even Barnes making a contribution this WE. Whitlock was huge in both Wins, which wouldn’t have happened early in the season. Is it frustrating that this didn’t happen earlier in the season?

 

If Barnes had pitched this well at the start of the year, the "no closer" thing wouldn't been the issue that it became.

 

Sure it's frustrating, but such is life.

[Old Red]

If Barnes had pitched this well at the start of the year, the "no closer" thing wouldn't been the issue that it became.

 

Sure it's frustrating, but such is life.

 

Very true on Barnes.

[moonslav59]

If Barnes had pitched this well at the start of the year, the "no closer" thing wouldn't been the issue that it became.

 

Sure it's frustrating, but such is life.

 

You make plans based on the best information you have, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

 

Who would have/ could have foreseen the near complete decline of every returning vet from 2021? Only Devers and Vaz did better, and Houck has been about the same. The rest all went down- some by a massive amount.

 

[Old Red]

You make plans based on the best information you have, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

 

Who would have/ could have foreseen the near complete decline of every returning vet from 2021? Only Devers and Vaz did better, and Houck has been about the same. The rest all went down- some by a massive amount.

 

This I will agree with. I thought JD had at least 1 more 80-90 RBI year left in him, and I was all for not trading him in the off season. In hindsight that was a bad decision.

[notin]

You make plans based on the best information you have, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

 

Who would have/ could have foreseen the near complete decline of every returning vet from 2021? Only Devers and Vaz did better, and Houck has been about the same. The rest all went down- some by a massive amount.

 

 

 

So. Restgate II?

 

I kid. I kid. Not blaming Alex.

 

But I do think so wine needs to make. “Restgate 2: Electric Boogaloo” joke…

[oldtimer]

This I will agree with. I thought JD had at least 1 more 80-90 RBI year left in him, and I was all for not trading him in the off season. In hindsight that was a bad decision.

 

The decision was complicated by the fact that JDM had a player option and wanted to stay. I understand why we kept him but would not recommend any thought of resigning him. That is not to knock him, He has produced very well for the team and we got good value from his contract. We have had quite a few stinko contracts but his was not one of them.

[moonslav59]

If Barnes had pitched this well at the start of the year, the "no closer" thing wouldn't been the issue that it became.

 

Sure it's frustrating, but such is life.

 

We have a lot of players who we counted on to give us near what they were like last year or over their recent few years. Almost none of them gave us even the same as last year.

 

2021's team> 2022 (listed by most PAs and IP)

 

.890 Devers .938 (Improved defense, too.)

.867 JD M .780 (a massive drop off in RBIs, too.)

.777 Dugo

.863 Bogey .818 (156 RBI in his last 1300 PAs)

.786 Kike .613 (Massive drop off and missed about 100 games)

.816 Renfroe/ JBJ replaced at .578 (Horrific hit to the line-up_

.659 Vaz .759 (A very nice 100 point gain, but traded!)>McGuire 1.056

.792 Dalbec .649 (Had a career OPS above .800 going into 2022.)

.567 Marwin/ replaced by Story .713

.769 Arroyo .744 (Yes, even Arroyo declined.)

.737 Plawecki .469 (Gut punch cliff dive.)

.957 Schwarber replaced indirectly by .885 Refsnyder

.497 Cordero .660 (got more PAs, too.)

.597 Santana replaced indirectly by Pham .819

.578 Duran .661

.549 Chavis (See Marwin replaced by Story)

.643 Arauz (See Marwin replaced by Story)

.915 Iggy> late season Downs .427

.843 Shaw> Hosmer .584

 

2021 ERA+> 2022

125 Eovaldi 102 (This hurt, along with injury)

99 ERod> replaced by Wacha 173

103 Pivetta 93 (Innings leader in 2022)

96 Richards replaced by Hill 89

99 Perez replaced by Crawford 101

239 Whitlock 142 (Declined in ERA+, but still did very well.)

133 Houck 134 (About the same)

112 Ottavino> replaced by Schreiber 179

124 Barnes 63 (way less IP, too)

154 Sawamura 133

138 Taylor> replaced by Strahm 119 (injured)

149 Sale 141 (et tu, Sale?)

140 DHern 21 (Massive drop)

81 Valdez 98

78 Andriese> 100 Diekman (traded away)

131 Robles 73 (goner)

128 Rios> replaced by Wink 90

96 Workman> replaced by Danish 106

98 Davis 90

73 Brice> replaced by Ort 48

320 Brasier 82

 

Hard to make up ground with all this going on...

 

[moonslav59]

The decision was complicated by the fact that JDM had a player option and wanted to stay. I understand why we kept him but would not recommend any thought of resigning him. That is not to knock him, He has produced very well for the team and we got good value from his contract. We have had quite a few stinko contracts but his was not one of them.

 

The thought, at the time, was to trade him and maybe eat $5-10M of his contract and then sign Schwarber. It would have amounted to paying Schwarber $5-10M more than his contract, but we stuck with JD.

 

One other big thought by many here was signing Suzuki as a big bat and OF help. We hear a lot about how we should have signed Jansen and others, but not many of us are screaming about Suzuki, anymore.

[Maxbialystock]

If Barnes had pitched this well at the start of the year, the "no closer" thing wouldn't been the issue that it became.

 

Sure it's frustrating, but such is life.

 

"This well" is based on a pretty small sample. I think the "no closer" issue was caused by the weak pitching by both Barnes and Robles, to say nothing of the need to buttress the rotation and the middle to late inning bullpen. If all Cora needed was someone to stick his finger in that one little hole in the dike, he could have found someone easily. But pretty quickly the Sox pitching staff became one of the holiest in the American League.

[Maxbialystock]

The thought, at the time, was to trade him and maybe eat $5-10M of his contract and then sign Schwarber. It would have amounted to paying Schwarber $5-10M more than his contract, but we stuck with JD.

 

One other big thought by many here was signing Suzuki as a big bat and OF help. We hear a lot about how we should have signed Jansen and others, but not many of us are screaming about Suzuki, anymore.

 

I definitely wanted to hang onto Schwarber, but I wanted JDM too.

[moonslav59]

I definitely wanted to hang onto Schwarber, but I wanted JDM too.

 

I remember, I came up with some convoluted way we could find enough playing time- for everyone, had we added Schwarber and kept JD, but it involved too many revolving doors at several positions.

 

Anyway, Schwarber is doing okay, but not really all that great for his money.

[Kimmi]

But it certainly did hurt building the farm.

 

The sox aren't going anywhere this year, the failure to capitalize on trading the expiring contracts was just another poor decision by hang 'em chaim.

 

Obviously if Bloom had traded away more expiring contracts he could have acquired more prospects, but IMO, Bloom did what he should have done. He improved this year's team and improved the long term outlook at the same time. Not significantly in either case, but improvement nonetheless. Whether the Sox are going anywhere this year or not remains to be seen.

[Kimmi]

There is a price for everything. If you want a certain player and you want a great team , sometimes you have to pay that price. You can call it an overpay if you want. You can say that eventually the player will not be worth it , but sometimes you have to go that extra mile. And it gets more expensive all the time. Now , you can try and build a great team without doing that , but you better be very good or very lucky .

 

The problem is that every dollar spent on one player is a dollar less to spend on the rest of the team. It's not about paying the price for a player. It's about not using that large a part of your resources on one player, then not having the resources to fill other needs.

[Kimmi]

It is easy to sustain mediocrity. Difficult to sustain excellence.

 

Sustaining excellence doesn't happen overnight. It takes roughly 5 years. We are getting there.

[Kimmi]

The decision was complicated by the fact that JDM had a player option and wanted to stay. I understand why we kept him but would not recommend any thought of resigning him. That is not to knock him, He has produced very well for the team and we got good value from his contract. We have had quite a few stinko contracts but his was not one of them.

 

I thought the signing of JD was one of Dombrowski's finer moments.